City Nights, Shooting Stars: Capturing the Lyrids with a Camera

In light-polluted urban skies, the author explains how to watch and photograph the Lyrid meteor shower by combining patience with practical gear: set up a wide-angle lens (14–24mm), manually focus on a bright star, shoot 30-second RAW exposures at ISO 800–1600, and leave a camera outside overnight to stack occasional meteors; with a new Moon around April 17, skies can stay dark enough for faint fireballs, and the peak timing around April 21–22 (in 2026) provides two good windows (pre-dawn for North America, post-sunset for Europe), while noting that real-time viewing is best, photography can still yield striking results even from the city.